Various types of vehicles and devices—including cranes, helicopters, forklifts, dollies and carts—may be used to lift and transport objects, such as large HVAC-type appliances. Such vehicles and devices are commonly used for hoisting, moving, and lowering such objects. However, large cranes and helicopters are often prohibitively expensive for use in installing commercial or industrial HVAC-type units or for the lengths of time required to lift and install multiple HVAC-type appliances. Moreover, large cranes and helicopters often require advanced scheduling and several crew members to operate. In addition, commercial and industrial roof-top HVAC-type units are typically very heavy, weighing hundreds to thousands of pounds.
Thus, due to the significant weight of such units, there are often substantial risks when suspending a unit from a crane boom or helicopter rigging over a building for extended amounts of time or in high wind conditions. For instance, in the event of a rigging failure, the unit could fall onto the building roof and possibly through the roof into the building structure, thereby damaging the unit, damaging the building roof and substructure, and possibly injuring building occupants. Furthermore, many building roofs are not substantially strong enough or designed and construct so as to support the weight of traditional heavy lifting equipment, such as a forklift, that could otherwise lift and place a massive commercial or industrial HVAC-type appliance on a flat-surface roof without the use of a crane or helicopter.